Before we even made public the concept, it came to life as a Pygame project.
As the project grew bigger, we started adding more content to the little engine and not much later it obviously started to slow down.
Most of you might already know Python/Pygame is not very efficient when it comes to games. That is why we decided to develop it using Game Maker when we launched the indiegogo campaign. We were all familiar with the tool and it was powerful enough to perform the way we had in mind.
By that moment we were using Game Maker 8, so part of the money of the crowdfunding went towards an upgrade of our license to GM:Studio.
The new version of the program, developed by Yoyo Games, was going to allow us to develop a cross platform game. "Code once, run everywhere", they said.
But reality is when we started coding the nightmare began. "Code once, suck everywhere".

After the fresh installation we noticed several changes in the software.
Some were good, some were bad and some were just TERRIBLE.

AdventurOS' key feature is precisely the indexing of files and folders to generate the levels, monsters and adventures.
While game maker 8 was great at doing this, the newest version GM:S dramatically limited that to only ONE folder per operative system. Adventcalypse.

The documentation about it is very poor and there is no information to be found about OSX or Linux.
The program has a feature to add external libraries as a complement to the engine, but the only external libraries allowed are DLLs which of course don't work on any other platform than Windows, so there was really nothing we could to to bypass this limitation.

After asking on forums and contacting Yoyogames itself, all we got was pretty much a "Go f**k yourself".

By the time we launched the project, the NSA scandal was all over the internet and people were skeptical about us indexing their system.
This meant that using any kind of networking to bypass the limitations of the engine was out of the question.
We refused, and still refuse, to send any package containing the user private information, not even locally. So, there was only one solution left.
We had to create a parallel process with Python in order to gather the information needed and store it as a temporary file on the game's directory.
Developing that is not as simple as it seems, specially when it is expected to work on all platforms. Right now the indexer is pretty awesome but it was one of the hardest challenges we had to face during the early development of the game.

We have always had modding support in mind.
We designed the source to include many modding capabilities so other people can do whatever they want with the core idea of using the computer as a procedural generator seed. But once again GM got on our way.
From the documentation: "These functions cannot be used any more due to changes in the underlying runner that GameMaker: Studio uses to generate the device specific packages making it impossible to generate objects, images or code "on the fly" as was done before." This means that all the resources have to be implemented, added and coded from within the GM IDE itself, so there was no way for us to allow any kind of modding without giving away all the game's source code. We are still looking into ways of doing this but we might have to wait a little bit longer.

As for the gameplay itself, we are in continuous iteration.
It feels and looks very good, and lately we have been increasing the speed and adding variety to the enemies' IA. The latest additions to the hero's abilities are the bow and arrow, but there are still some other magic skills ready to be implemented.

We have long wanted to give you this insight on the overall development process of the game since day 1, because there have been so many ups and downs, so many challenges to overcome! We are determined to accomplish our vision and deliver the best AdventurOS we can craft. Thank you for being so awesome!

First of all, thank you ever so much for your words and gestures of support.
You will very soon be playing the super awesome AdventurOS.

Today we are letting you look through a crack of our castle's wall.
Here you have several gameplay gifs.

Among other elements, we are working on the environment, the power-ups and the monsters, and the result is a much better flow when it comes to gameplay.
Also, many spells have already been implemented, and they look and feel great!

There will be 7 different kinds of spells and 6 elements. These combined make a total of 42 spells to discover and master!

We are also proud to announce that once the game is out for sale, we will accept bitcoins, as so many of you wished and kindly requested.
It will be available as an alternative to the conventional currencies or services.

Thank you so very much for your patience. We promise it will all be worth it!

Happy new year, dear Adventurers!
Last year was full of adventures of all kinds for Evelend team, and this one will be full of adventures for you!

We are very excited to see what lies ahead for all of us immediately after the last steps of our bureaucratic odyssey.
We wish we could have given an earlier release, but the bright side is that AdventurOS becomes more and more awesome every day in the meantime.
We want to thank you all for your messages and gestures of support and we are sure this will be worth all the efforts we put into it.

Today we are unfolding AdventurOS development a bit more for you.

Firstly, a big improvement is taking place right now.
A second engine that will make mobs way more dynamic and fun to play is being implemented and will be merged with the current one.
We are focused on providing challenging fights, a broader spectrum of skills and overall better flow at our castle's platforms, making the experience more interesting and enjoyable.

Secondly, we have also improved a few other things, getting as a result:

- A higher number of ways to personalize your monsters through the mob customization system.
- A more efficient light engine that allows a better performance
- A room interpreter that will make our castle resemble our computer's visible folders and files even better.

Some upgrades wished by the team for AdventurOS' first release are yet to be crafted, but we are positive the upcoming release will contain them all.

All features in general continue according to plan and we have an early version of the game running for the contributors to our Indiegogo campaign with the highest perks.

Besides the administrative struggle for the sake of independence, we have also encountered a lot of technical challenges in the process of development, but we guess that is something to expect when you work on a product that is just unique.

We can't wait to put it out there!

We would like to remind everyone who has contributed to the Indiegogo campaign with the “CD” perk (and higher) that you should have received a link to the OST via e-mail.
In case you did not receive the e-mail, please feel free to get in touch!
Remember you can write to info@evelend.com or evelend.info@gmail.com and we will deliver your perk right away.

AdventurOS is coming soon, our dear Adventurers! In the meantime, here are some recent screenshots you can check out.

Regardless of the bitter side of being indies and on our own, we are enjoying every second of development of the game, and you will very soon be playing it your way, at your very own realm.
We are a team of three grinches, all equally overwhelmed and confused by Christmas time. However, we know for many it does bring reunions and well deserved free time. Maybe you are up to some AdventurOS music?

It is just about time for contributors with Floppy-disc perk or higher to enjoy the volume I of the amazing AdventurOS OST.
You will receive an email with the download link. It contains nineteen beautifully composed songs by our inimitable artist Mr. André Marí Coppola. Check it out and…

You might be aware of the latest news regarding our bureaucratic struggle. In case you are not, you might be interested in checking out Lorena’s article[lorena.evelend.com] on the subject.

Meanwhile, development keeps moving forward. And we can’t wait to the Early Access release!

Today we will give you a glimpse of another small piece of AdventurOS: Lately we have focused on improving the skill menu, so here’s a teaser:

Every time you perform an adventure related action (Entering unopened rooms, completing a quest, defeating a boss) you will earn Adventure Points. With this special points you will be able to build your character skills the way you want them by selecting your chosen formula between magic upgrades, weapon skills or abilities.

When creating your character a few basic skills will be already active so you can start with a preset.

You can follow this process and more through our site. You can stay updated by the team on Twitter too.
We also had the nice surprise of finding out a kind active member of Reddit had long ago created a subreddit about AdventurOS, and he has gifted us the chance to participate and keep it up to date too. Check it out!

We would like to thank you once more for your support. We are flooded with kind words and warm wishes and we are doing our best to reach everyone back as soon as possible. Once again, thank you so much. We love you all!